For the second straight year, the veteran recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award was not present at Halas Hall to accept the honor.
But the reasoning this time was very different.
Last year, former Bears quarterback Josh McCown won the award, but could not make it to Lake Forest because he was busy practicing in Tampa with his new team. That type of loyalty was exactly why he won the award in the first place.
As for Forte, he skipped both the award ceremony and the team’s first minicamp practice Tuesday.
“It’s a personal decision,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said when asked if he was disappointed Forte didn’t show up to accept an award so important to the McCaskey family. “It’s up to Matt and I think that decision should be respected. We’d like to get him here for practice but we know Matt takes very good care of himself.”
Forte posted an explanation on Instagram Tuesday that included a video of him participating in speed training that he says the Bears don’t do at Halas Hall:
Notable in the explanation is that Forte says he will be at OTAs and mandatory minicamp later in the offseason. Still, it seems fair to question why Forte couldn’t get away from his training for one day to accept the Piccolo Award, even if he did not stay for practice later Tuesday.
The Piccolo Award is presented every year to one rookie and one veteran for their combination of courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor. In that regard, Forte is more than worthy of the award, but the irony of him not showing up to accept an award honoring those characteristics can’t be ignored, especially since the award is voted on by teammates.
Forte is entering the final year of a four-year, $32 million contract and at 29-years-old, he’s looking for one more big-money extension. Thus far, he has not been present at Halas Hall during the voluntary workout period and will presumably miss the duration of this week’s voluntary minicamp. Three years ago, Forte sat out the entire offseason after former Bears general manager Phil Emery slapped the franchise tag on him.
Either way, skipping voluntary workouts is different than not showing up to accept an award that honors teamwork and loyalty. Especially one that is voted on by teammates and means so much within the Bears organization.
Still, McCaskey downplayed the awkwardness of Forte not being there.
“To me, it’s like the guys declining not to go to the draft. That’s an intensely personal decision and I think that decision should be respected,” the chairman said.
In Forte’s absence, Pat McCaskey read a statement from the running back:
“I’d like to accept the Piccolo award with the utmost respect and humility. Thank you to all my teammates that thought I was so deserving of this award that they voted for me. It is an honor to be selected as this year’s winner, but as you may know, success doesn’t come solely on one’s shoulders. So with that being said, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the help, strength and many blessings that he’s given me. And last but not least, thank you to my teammates for helping in my success on and off the field. God Bless and Bear down.”
In his presentation of the award, Gase added: “I know this staff is really anxious to get him back in the building.”
Fuller Wins Rookie Honors
Cornerback Kyle Fuller was the rookie recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award and was present to accept the honor.
“It’s definitely an honor,” he said. “I thank my teammates. I couldn’t have done it alone. I’m definitely thankful for this award.”
New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio presented the award to Fuller and said he did a lot of work on the cornerback leading up to last year’s draft in hopes that his former team, the 49ers, would have landed him.
Adam Hoge covers the Chicago Bears for WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. He also co-hosts The Beat, weekends on 720 WGN. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
